condo insurance- how much coverage

Your condo's master policy should cover walls-out so you should only need coverage for the walls-in. Banks require 20% of the value of your unit. That doesnt mean you cant more coverage if you want. Hope that helps. sunny.hong@bankofamerica.com

"Banks require 20% of value of unit" that's sort of ridiculous. If i purchase a 10Million dollar apartment, it should not cost me 2MM to replace the entire "building's in" portion (usually the Kitchen, bathrooms, floors etc). Shong - curious if this 20% requirement is in the mortgage documents or if this is something that lenders just throw out there, and people just comply?

UES - it is a fannie mae requirement for condos. The 20% requirement is stated in our mortgage commitment letters.

In most condos, the "unit" includes the entire space from the inside of the exterior masonary walls to any common wall between units, including all floors, ceilings, in-unit plumbing and electrical, internal and external walls, doors, windows, etc. And the "building" (as opposed to "contents") coverage basically applies to everything that would be left behind if you sold (including, for example, fixtures and appliances). Rebuilding after a total loss would be more involved than any "gut renovation" (the perverbial "we tok it down to the studs" come close, but in a condo you own the studs too). You can judge for yourself what it would cost to reconstruct everything, but in most cases 20% of the purchase price will not do it.

Remember the renovation cost of a damaged property is far more than a simple gut reno. Insurance for a good high-end apartment will be estimated using reno of $350 per sq ft.

mercer - how is the renovation cost for a damaged property far more than for a "simple" gut reno? The building is responsible for building systems (HVAC), windows,and concrete, and a gut renovation usually includes floors,ceilings,walls, everything else.